Your 'best buys'

I'm building up a bike from scratch and would be interested to hear about the choice additions to your own bikes. I'm creating my dream XC/Trail hound based on a 5" frame that costs around £1600 with an RP23 rear shock.

The frame has been chosen so this is all about parts and accessories (lights etc...)

I'd like to keep an eye on weight but great descending skills are a must. 140 forks and very good breaks... I weigh 100kg and on some of the bikes I tested the brakes started to soften on very steep and fast descents, can't have that!

Value for money as well as cost no barrier... What would you recommend based on personal experience?

Just finishing my own dream build over the course of this year and have just added the Hope Tech evo V2 brakes with 183mm rotors, these brakes are fantastic not needing much pressure from 1 finger to slow you down with no fade. I picked them up for £340 for the whole set but I know you can get the non evo set for about £300 all in. Also got some Chris King hubs built with sapim spokes and stans ZTR Crest rims, fairly light weight at 1700g but super strong/stiff and have aided my descending and cornering no end, total cost of build was £740. A friend of mine just got some 2012 Fox Talas 140mm FIT forks with the new kashima coating, tapered steerer and 15mm bolt through for £520 brand new from Israel of Ebay, can't go wrong with them as cheapest in the UK is £740. Also got Middleburn duo cranks for £200 but a good bet would be the new XT double chainset as you can probably pick them up for £160, worth while thinking of as I went from 3x9 to 2x9 then to 2x10 and the 10 speed if definitely the best as the jump between gears is much smoother and better matched. Also get a Rockshox Reverb seat post from Germany for around £170-£190 delivered, I got mine from HIBIKE and you don't have to worry about warranty as their is a service centre in the UK for these so all you need is your receipt. Brooks saddles (sweet) and the new easton haven carbon bars and matching stem are great bits of kit. Enjoy your build, it has felt like christmas most weeks/months this year!!

SRAM XX: bought as a groupset very lightly used for the price of XT. Very light, pretty and reliable. Great shifting and the brakes (from 11 model year onwards) are great too. Powerful and light, good modulation etc. I'd probably go for an XTR chainset if I was buying now, mainly because it looks nicer don't think I'll replace the cassette at the same level, but it's lasting very well.

Edit: worth looking at the Terralogic version of Fox forks. Haven't used them with a full suss, but they're amazing on a hardtail. Never notice them doing their thing until you ride something else. I'd have them on other bikes if I had the money.

Hope Hoops on Stans Flow rims have been great running tubeless.
Formula The Ones - very light and stupidly powerful. I way about the same as you and one finger braking is easy, no fade I've noticed on long-ish descents in the Lakes. I'm thinking about dropping down a rotor size TBH.

They are very expensive and not as much modulation as some others though.

Ruscle, I'm already sold on 2x10 having had this on two of the bikes I tested. Also definitely getting Reverb post.

Neninja your comment regarding XTR shifters is a good one and just the kind of advice I'm looking for. LBS is pulling together a build for me and once done we'll sit down and discuss where a little more investment will be best placed, this is why I'm after personal recommendations.

RS Reverb. I got a blinding deal on one, but was on the lookout anyway. Where I live we arn't blessed with big hills here so I don't have th luxury of plodding up for an hour, then dropping the post for a decent descent, it's all little ups & downs. Makes riding a lot more fun.

A set of XTR970 cranks. I must have had them for nearly 5 years now. Been on my DH bike, a 4X bike & now my XC bike. Crashed, smashed & still going strong. Amazed by these. I'm building up a new Nomad carbon & I fancied some new XTR's for it, but i've spent a bit of time giving these a bit of TLC & polished them up, now there doesn't seem any point in spunking £300 on a crankset thats no better than my current one.

Charge Spoon, just read that, Normal Man !
I'm amazed at how comfy and hardwearing mine is.Run it for about six months now about 35 miles a week. Better than saddles costing four times as much in my view.

CRC are doing a good deal on xtr cranks at the moment. Decent wheels are a must and HopeHoops seem to take a lot of beating. Rockshox forks seem to be good value and last better than Fox at the moment.

XTR cables, well sealed and last for ages without any special TLC.
XTR shifters - second the comments above
XT brakes (m785), close to brake perfection.
SLX double & bash specifc front mech - brilliant idea, works well.
Hope hubs and Stan's rims - choose a model to suit your riding.
Maxxis tyres - Virtually any of the 2.25", 60a versions. Again, choose the one that matches your riding.
Magura Thor forks - I love these (now have two pairs), but perhaps not for everyone. Absolutely super stiff and accurate for the weight, though.